Red Raiders finish off Central

ROCHESTER — The Spaulding High School volleyball team has been in this position before with minimal success.

This time, however, the Red Raiders finished the job.

Leading two games to none, but down big in the third game, they staged a late rally to complete a 3-0 sweep with an exclamation point Monday night against Manchester Central.

With its third win in four matches, Spaulding prevailed by scores of 25-9, 25-14 and 25-21 to improve to 7-5 in Division I.

"We didn't want to go four (games)," said Spaulding coach George Pendleton. "We've gone 2-0 in many matches and haven't been able to close out that third game. The kids showed they can come back from a deficit where they haven't in the past."

The Red Raiders, who scored 13 of the final 14 points in Game 3, rebounded from Saturday's 3-0 loss to Dover in which they trailed the entire match.

They dominated the first two games Monday before running into difficulty in the third as the Little Green picked up their play.

"We've been there," said Spaulding's Ali Trueworthy, who served the decisive run.

Central's Vanessa Poirier served eight straight points as the visitors took a 15-7 lead. The Little Green still led 20-13 when Trueworthy stepped to the service line.

The senior setter didn't leave until the Red Raiders led 24-21.

"I thought we played one point at time," Pendleton said. "We didn't look ahead. We didn't worry about what was going on on the other side of the net. Every time the ball came on our side of the net we really took care of what we needed to do and made sure we got the ball in play on the other side whether it was a kill or not."

Trueworthy served 11 consecutive points that included two aces, five combined kills from juniors Jade Glidden and Jane Douglas, and two Central timeouts in a largely futile attempt to curb the momentum.

"We fought for every point," Trueworthy said. "We came out of the (first) timeout and we didn't let them freeze us."

Kati Harrison added a kill and a block that made it 24-20.

A kill by Poirier made it 24-21 and gave Central new life, but the Little Green, who were trying to win their first game in six matches, gave it right back with a net serve at match point.

"Keep playing one point at a time, that's the only way we can get back in the game," Pendleton said of his message to his players. "We've been working on doing that for the past couple weeks because we didn't finish off matches early in the season."

The Red Raiders were confident they could come back even though they've struggled in similar situations this season.

"Once we started playing one point at a time, the kids really looked like they were focused on what they needed to do," Pendleton said. "So I did feel very confident that when we got two or three points into that run that we were going to be fine."

Douglas and Harrison finished with six kills apiece and Trueworthy had 10 assists and six aces. Harrison added three blocks.

Spaulding had a relatively easy time in the first two games against an opponent that came in with a 1-9 record and a five-match losing streak.

"They were getting their serves over and they had good velocity behind them," Central coach Ed True said of Trueworthy's pivotal service game. "I think my girls were a little tentative and they weren't moving as quickly and that caused us to misplay the ball quite a bit."

Sophomore Alexandra Kenyon served five straight points to give the Red Raiders an early 9-3 lead in Game 1. Gabby Connelly virtually sealed the outcome with six consecutive service points that made it 20-6.

The run featured two aces and kills by Glidden, Harrison and junior Monique Baldwin.

Game 2 was slightly more competitive. The Red Raiders led wire to wire and distanced themselves when Glidden served four points and Douglas added three to make it 20-9.

Douglas also put down two kills with Glidden at the line.

"(The comeback) was very important for more than just this game and for our team as a whole," Trueworthy said. "We've had a lot of trouble with finishing. It's good to start picking it up at the end of the season and see what we can bring to the playoffs."

The Red Raiders had a short bench Monday night without senior hitters Kelsie Menard and Cassie Miltner, who both left the team for personal reasons.

Monday's match was the first time Spaulding played without both of them. Given the lack of depth, Pendleton decided to try players at different positions in an attempt to enhance the Red Raiders' versatility.

For example, Douglas played libero in the first game, Baldwin donned the white shirt for the second game and Connelly played the position in the third.

"It was a very big win," Pendleton said. "It reassures the fact that we can play defense, we can handle the ball and that we're growing as a team."